1. Field
The present disclosure relates to content delivery, and more particularly, to techniques for expediting Internet content delivery while reducing unicast data traffic.
2. Background
Cable broadband Internet service delivers Internet content to consumers, typically through standards such as Data Over Cable Service Interface Specification (DOCSIS), fiber based providers, or the like. Internet traffic on such a service may use both unicast and broadcast transmissions of Internet content to a consumer/user. Unicast transmissions of content may be sent directly to each consumer requesting the content. Each consumer requesting the content gets his/her own stream from the service provider. When multiple consumers request the same Internet content, multiple duplicate streams must be created, one per each request. Consequently, the cost of unicast transmission increases linearly with the number of consumers requesting the Internet content.
In contrast, broadcast data delivery allows a service provider to send a single stream to the network, which may be received by multiple consumers, whether they requested the data or not. As such, the cost or infrastructure-demand associated with broadcast delivery remains the same regardless of the number of consumers requesting the same Internet content. Therefore, when a large amount of common content is requested by many consumers, significant improvements in performance (e.g., delay, capacity) may be achieved by taking advantage of the benefits of broadcasting this content, as opposed to taking up the already limited unicast bandwidth.
With existing broadcast networks, (e.g., cable service networks), a portion of the available cable network spectrum is allocated for Internet communications, while the majority of the available cable network spectrum is allocated for the delivery of real time programming content (e.g., television channels) by cable operators. When large numbers of users are requesting the same content (e.g., a popular or viral video) on the Internet via unicast data transfer, the portion of cable network spectrum allocated for Internet communications may be unable to meet the demands of its users, resulting in delays for the users. In this context, there remains a need for expediting the delivery of Internet content to users over a broadcast network.